


Ugragadha

by AllegoriesInMediasRes



Series: Ramayana fics [6]
Category: Ramayana - Valmiki
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Canon Compliant, Gen, Oneshot, Tumblr fill, mentions of past rape
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-08
Updated: 2018-09-08
Packaged: 2019-07-08 11:11:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15929240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AllegoriesInMediasRes/pseuds/AllegoriesInMediasRes
Summary: Three secrets Tara kept and one she revealed.ugragadha (Sanskrit): unfathomable, dangerous depths





	Ugragadha

**Author's Note:**

  * For [avani](https://archiveofourown.org/users/avani/gifts).



**Three secrets she kept and one she revealed**

She hates Rama.

She never so much as looks at either Sugriva or Ruma with blame, but the Raghu king she refuses to grace with her presence. It is increasingly difficult as preparations for the war become more and more intense and require the allied kings to spend time in each others’ company, but Tara is crafty enough to never be around when discussions go on and yet not shirk her duties as queen. They all suspect -- Hanuman, Sugriva, Ruma, Angad -- but they are kind enough not to say anything, and so her loathing remains (an open) secret.

It is unfair, when she knows dharma as well as any woman does, but Vali was her lord and her champion for half her life, and the insufferably moral, lotus-eyed beggar prince finds himself the silent target of her aggrieved resentment. When she hears word of the pregnant Queen of Ayodhya exiled once more, this time at her husband’s command, Tara is bitterly vindicated.

~

Hanuman had not expected the younger Queen of Kishkindha to be as she was before the war, but nor had he been prepared for just how much weight she had lost, how listless her eyes are now. “Perhaps if I had remembered my powers earlier,” he confesses once to Tara, voice cracking with guilt, “I could have rescued her, or at least reached her, as I was able to with Sita.”

Tara remembers the curse that befell Hanuman for his mischief, how he did not remember his abilities until Jambavant mentioned them by chance, and wonders how much lighter Ruma’s eyes might be had that been the case. Vali had kept her so straitly that her own home had become a prison, so that not even Tara could help her escape.

She must never, _ever_ let Ruma come to the same realization.

~

“At least it’s not Durvasa,” Sugriva whispers when Tara’s nostrils flare at something Narada says. She is almost tempted to snap that she would prefer the famously bellicose sage to the emissary of heaven, who is irritatingly cheerful in a way that reminds her of Ayodhya’s king.

Ruma is not there, indisposed -- royal speak for “in bed nursing a hangover that she wakes up with just about every morning these days”. Narada takes advantage of her absence to wax eloquent about the “embarrassments” she suffered, and about their place in some greater whirling cosmic drama. “So you see, had she never been appropriated, Your Majesty would have had no legitimate complaint against your older brother taking back his kingdom as was his right, and Sri Rama would never had a basis for his alliance.”

He leans back in his chair with a self-satisfied smile. “Every curse is always a blessing in disguise.”

Tara smiles back graciously and offers to prepare the evening meal with her own hands for their esteemed guest. If Narada notices the chapathis are burnt and the curries saltless, he says nothing.

~

Angad enters her personal chamber unannounced and squeezes underneath her vanity. He looks up at her with wide, pleading eyes, begging her silently not to reveal where he is hiding. Sugriva’s voice grows louder and louder. “Nephew! Nephew!”

He enters Tara’s chamber unannounced as well. “ _Mere bhabi_ , do you know where a certain young rascal might be?”

Tara does not meet his eyes, instead focusing on her reflection as she braids jasmine into her hair for the day. “I know not, my lord. But would you be so kind to fetch that pomander that has rolled beneath my vanity?”

A howl of indignation resounds in the room as Sugriva bends down and yanks Angad out by his tail, throwing him over his shoulder. Tara and Ruma wait until they are gone before they break into peals of laughter.


End file.
